A Ransom for Many, and Bartimaeus
32 They were on the way, going up to Jerusalem; and Jesus was going in front of them, and they were amazed; and those who followed were afraid. He again took the twelve, and began to tell them the things that were going to happen to him. 33 “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes. They will condemn him to death, and will deliver him to the Gentiles. 34 They will mock him, spit on him, scourge him, and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.” 35 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came near to him, saying, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we will ask.” 36 He said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” 37 They said to him, “Grant to us that we may sit, one at your right hand and one at your left hand, in your glory.” 38 But Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” 39 They said to him, “We are able.” Jesus said to them, “You shall indeed drink the cup that I drink, and you shall be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; 40 but to sit at my right hand and at my left hand is not mine to give, but for whom it has been prepared.” 41 When the ten heard it, they began to be indignant toward James and John. 42 Jesus summoned them and said to them, “You know that they who are recognized as rulers over the nations lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43 But it shall not be so among you, but whoever wants to become great among you shall be your servant. 44 Whoever of you wants to become first among you shall be bondservant of all. 45 For the Son of Man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” 46 They came to Jericho. As he went out from Jericho with his disciples and a great multitude, the son of Timaeus, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the road. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, you son of David, have mercy on me!” 48 Many rebuked him, that he should be quiet, but he cried out much more, “You son of David, have mercy on me!” 49 Jesus stood still and said, “Call him.” They called the blind man, saying to him, “Cheer up! Get up. He is calling you!” 50 He, casting away his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus. 51 Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “Rabboni, that I may see again.” 52 Jesus said to him, “Go your way. Your faith has made you well.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the way.
The third prediction meets a request for thrones, and the answer is the book's center verse — then a blind beggar sees, and follows on the way up.
They were on the way, going up to Jerusalem; and Jesus was going in front of them, and they were amazed; and those who followed were afraid. He again took the twelve, and began to tell them the things that were going to happen to him.
The road turns up to Jerusalem, and Mark paints the strangest procession in the Gospel: Jesus striding ahead, alone, toward the city he has three times said will kill him; behind him amazement and fear. The third prediction is the most detailed — priests, Gentiles, mocking, spitting, scourging, death, and the third day Mark 10:33–34 — and it is answered, in the very next verse, by a job application.
They said to him, “Grant to us that we may sit, one at your right hand and one at your left hand, in your glory.”
James and John, hearing kill him, request the thrones. The tone-deafness is total, and the answer is gentler than it deserves: you don't know what you are asking — the cup being wrath's cup in the prophets Isaiah 51:17 Mark 14:36, the baptism a drowning in suffering. Their glib we are able receives a sober prophecy — they will indeed drink it Mark 10:39 Acts 12:2 — and the seats are left with the Father. Mark's bitter footnote: the places at his right and left, when the glory comes, go to two robbers on crosses Mark 15:27.
43 But it shall not be so among you, but whoever wants to become great among you shall be your servant. 44 Whoever of you wants to become first among you shall be bondservant of all. 45 For the Son of Man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
The ten's indignation at the two Mark 10:41 is the same ambition wearing outrage, and Jesus summons them all for the book's constitutional sentence. The nations' model — rank as leverage, greatness as being served — is banned in four words: not so among you. And the ground of the new order is the book's center verse: the Son of Man of Daniel's vision, whom all peoples serve Daniel 7:14, come to serve; his life given a ransom — the price that frees a slave or a forfeited life Exodus 21:30 — for many, the substitution of Isaiah's servant who bore the sin of many Isaiah 53:11–12. One verse holds the book's whole atonement.
"Jesus, you son of David, have mercy on me!"... He, casting away his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus Mark 10:47 Mark 10:50.
The Galilean ministry's last healing is placed as its parable. Bartimaeus — blind, roadside, shushed by the crowd — shouts the messianic title the seeing have not used, and louder when rebuked. The question Jesus asks him is the one James and John just answered so badly: what do you want me to do for you? Mark 10:51 Mark 10:36 — and the beggar's answer shames the apostles': not thrones, sight. The cloak flung away is a beggar's whole estate abandoned mid-spring; the ending is the book's definition of discipleship in seven words: immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the way Mark 10:52 — and the way, at this bend, goes up to Jerusalem.
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